27 
It is possible that these elements are derived from an anterior rock 
which had an igneous origin, and have assumed the crystalline state 
under the influence of heat, water, and pressure, as explained by 
Mr. Sorby, or as in the experiments by which M. Daubree succeeded 
in obtaining several crystalline minerals. 
November 3.—The following paper on ‘‘The State Swords of 
the York Corporation,” contributed by Eobert Davies, Esq., 
E. S. A., was read :—Mr. Drake, in his “History of the City of 
York,” informs us that in his time the Corporation had four state 
swords, and that the least sword among them, but the greatest in 
value, was that which King Eichard the Second, in the year 1389, 
took from his side and gave to be borne before Wflliam de Selby, 
as fii’st Lord Mayor of York. Another, and the largest, was that 
which had belonged to the Emperor Sigismund. The third, which 
was the most beautiful, was given by Sir Martin Bowes, Lord 
Mayor of London. The fourth (to use Mr. Drake’s peculiar phra¬ 
seology) ‘ ‘ was formerly made use of whenever the Lord Mayor 
went abroad or stirred from home.” (^') In another chapter of the 
same work we read that “ the Mayor of York by ancient prescrip¬ 
tion assumes the title of Lord in all writing or speaking to him, 
which honour was bestowed on our chief magistrate by King 
Eichard II. That monarch after granting the citizens a new and 
most extensive charter of privileges in the year 1389, at his coming 
to the city that year, took his sword from his side, and gave it to 
’VYilliam de Selby, then Mayor, to be borne before him and his 
successors:—“From this emblem of justice (Mr. Drake tells us) 
we deduce our title of Lord Mayor, he being by it constituted the 
king’s more immediate vice-gerent than before.”(f) This state¬ 
ment of our venerable historian is not free from inaccuracy. The 
great charter of privileges he alludes to was not granted until the 
year 1396, seven or eight years subsequent to the presentation of 
the sword, which took place in 1388, during the thii’d mayoralty of 
’Wilham de Selby. In a clause of that charter the fact of a sword 
having been given to the citizens by King Eichard the Second is 
expressly mentioned, and authority is given to the Mayor and his 
successors for the time being to have that, or any other sword they 
pleased, borne before them with the point erect in the presence of 
all persons whatsoever, the sovereign himself and his heirs only 
Elboracum, p. 223. (f) Ibid, p. 181. 
